Knowledge is Power
by OtakuChika
Summary: Back in her hometown, Mikan overheard more than what was shown in the show. How could that one extra sentence change everything? Well, it changed a lot. Mikan discovers others like her, others with Alices in her small town school and trains with them before going to Gakuen Alice after Hotaru. Hotaru x Ruka Natsume x Mikan and others. TRIGGER WARNING- this story has underage rape.
1. Chapter 1

I sit in my seat in class, wishing my best friend, Hotaru was here. She left nine months ago and transferred to Gakuen Alice- a school for extremely gifted students.

"You know, I heard that you don't have to be really smart to get into Alice Academy. I heard from a friend in another school that this really weird kid who failed all his classes got in. He had some sort of weird power- I think it was telakithesis, or something like that. Anyway he could move stuff with his mind." A friend of mine whispered to a couple other kids behind me, before the three of them began exchanging gossip about the place. It's a prison, you have to have a special ability to get in, you aren't allowed out once you get in.

I slammed my hand down on the table. I'm gonna save Hotaru. But first, I have to get myself an Alice. I turned to my three friends. "Is Hotaru the only one in this school with special powers?" I ask them. One of them, Yuki, held up her hand and gestured me closer.

"No, actually. I've got one." She whispered to me. My eyes widened. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the classroom.

"Seriously?" I ask when we're a safe distance from the school. She nods. "What can you do?" I demand, eyes wide and sparkly.

"Actually, I have two. I can see other people's powers, and their history. The second is loosely defined if you need to know something and it somehow has anything to do with you at all, I can show it to you." My eyes widen further.

A/N: At this point, if you don't know the story of Mikan and Natsume's parents generation, go look it up. It may become important later in the story. Thanks!

I grab Yuki's shoulders and shake. "Show me my parents. Who are they? Were they Alices?" She pushes me away gently and sits down, motioning for me to do the same.

"Whole past, or just what you want to know. They seem to have a pretty messed up past."

"Whole. It could be important at the academy." She nods and closes her eyes. Suddenly, I'm standing in a classroom, watching a teacher and a young girl argue.

*TIME SKIP END OF HISTORY LESSON TOO LAZY TO TYPE OUT MIKAN'S PARENTS' ISSUES GO LOOK IT UP IF YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW* Changes: SIC instead of only Steal, and Persona is her brother. SIC- Steal, Insert, Copy.

So… I could have nullification, SIC, or Teleport? All cool powers, but what kind of crap is going on in that school? Let's review what we know. Kaoru's kids should be there… Aoi and Natsume. Narumi and Jinno will be there, mother took Narumi's feelings for her in an Alice stone, Dad is… Mom is alive, somewhere, working against the academy, I have a half brother from dad and a crazy lady. Nii- San has the Alice of death and was saved by dad only to kill him later in a misunderstanding that probably twisted his mind.

"For the record, you have all three." I'm shaken from my reverie by Yuki's revelation.

"All three of my parents' Alices?" She nods. "Ok…" I pull in a shaky breath. "Well, if I'm gonna get in, I need to learn as much as I can about this Academy and the AAO, as well as my own Alices. Do you know of anyone with offensive type Alices or something like that?" To my great surprise, she nods.

"Actually, Mae and Sakura also have Alices." She tells me and my jaw drops.

"And you hid it from me?!" I exclaim, eyes sparkling slightly, but anger stirring slightly. I push it away, knowing exactly why they didn't tell me. They don't want to go to that school I'm beginning to see as wretched.

"Yes, and you know why. Sakura has wind, and Mae has both water and ice. There's also a girl and her twin brother in another class. One has Voice Manipulation, and the other Pheromone. Animals and people seem to do what they say.

I grin. So many? Lucky me! "Thanks for helping me, Yuki!" I exclaim, grabbing her hands before racing home.

Upon reaching grandpa's home I find a postcard from Hotaru. I smile and put it in a frame next to my bed. I'll see you again soon, my friend. Just you wait and see. I make a bee line for our strawberry garden- my favorite place to think. I walk through it, plucking ripe strawberries and eating them. I find my way to the center of the mazelike garden and carefully- not- plop down, poking myself in the rear with a pointy rock. A frown at it momentarily before settling in to a meditative pose.

I'll need to find my Alices within me in order to freely access them.

#RIP WORD IS AN ASSHOLE AND DELETED THREE FUCKING PAGES OF MY WORK AND I DON'T HAVE A BACK UP FUCK YOU WORD AND NOW IT KEEPS EXITING OUT OF THE PROGRAM AND NOT SAVING WHAT I HAVE TYPED! I'm a little wrathful. Sorry not sorry.

Turns out that's easier said than done.

It'd been a month and I had made a grand total of… ZERO progress.

Finally, sick of it I went up to my Alice friends and asked them how they used theirs. They all just used them naturally, like, without even thinking. That made me really sad, but then Allen and Chrystahl (We befriended them while I was trying and failing to gain access to my Alice abilities. I could sense them within me, but I couldn't access them. That made it even more frustrating.) told me that even though they could easily use their Alice, they had trouble not using it. When they didn't need or want everyone trampling each other to accommodate their every whim and desire, they had to stop using their Alice. To that end, they would relax themselves as best they could and then search for their Alice. According to the twins, each Alice has a personality and a will of it's own, to a certain extent.

To access the Alice's power, you had to accomplish a task for them- but they often won't tell you what the task is- you have to guess and hope for the best. The others accomplished their tasks without meaning to, according to Allen. But that still counted, apparently.

It still took me three weeks to unlock my Teleportation Alice. One day, I was watching a nature documentary with grandpa and I told him I would travel the world some day and see all those places. That afternoon while I was meditating, I noticed that the feel of my teleportation Alice felt much stronger than it had previously. All Tele wanted was to see the world, so when I declared I'd do that, she was ecstatic and let me have access to her ability. I call her Tele, by the way.

A week after that, I got Null's power. His condition was kind of… odd. I needed to spend an entire day in the company of my lonesome, and only that. I couldn't even think of anyone else. He was nullifying my feelings toward others for a day, essentially. I spent the week after I met Tele studying when I wasn't meditating. I had heard that, while Alice Academy wasn't necessarily exclusively for geniuses if you still had a lot of them thanks to the hell they call teaching at that school. So to prepare myself I began studying obsessively. I hardly slept more than thirty minutes every night. After a week of that I ended up passing out and I slept for nearly a whole day- but I eventually woke up. I woke up around 8 in the evening and went out to the garden, began meditating but immediately proceeded to fall asleep again.

The next morning, I woke up in my bed and found I had gained access to Null's power. I also knew that grandfather had carried me to my room somehow. I scolded him for that, but I was grateful anyways.

It was an entire month before I fully gained the approval of SIC's three personality. Because the Alice had three parts, it had three personalities as well. Jealousy (Copy), Selfishness (Steal), and Selflessness (Insert). One day at school, about a week after I got Null's abilities, Allen told me he wanted a copy of the week's crossword- something very precious to my grandfather. Said he'd been bored lately. I scanned it and printed out a copy then faxed it to the twins' home. I knew they'd be alone because they've said their parents left them when they were children when they realized their children were both Alices. The two have been living off the money left to them in their grandparent's will, which was given to them because even their grandparents disliked the twins' parents. Sad thing, that.

I had gained approval from Copy.

About three weeks after I gained Copy's approval, we got a bad rainstorm around where we live. The twins were visiting me, so I grabbed an umbrella, - grandpa's, because it was bigger and in better shape than mine- stole it, really, and shoved it at the twins and told them they could have it. Of course they knew what I meant. They could use it, but I wanted it back.

I had the approval of Steal and Insert now.

I was done.

I grin. It's been three months. I've got you now, so let's get started.

-8{

I dodge quickly to the left, narrowly escaping the dull blade of wind Sakura unleashed at me. While I was off balance, she sends a flurry of wind blades at me. I quickly throw up my nullifying shield and grin. The blades of wind sent at me dissipate and I twirl in place, arms outstretched as I fling my own blades of wind at my sparring partner. The blades I send out are noticeably sharper than Sakura's, because I don't have nearly as much control over the copied Alice. Luckily, each of my friends was able to tell me how they had gained approval from their Alices. Because of that I was able to control those Alices with reasonable ease within a week.

Sakura dives out of the path of the wind, and I smile happily at her. This is so much fun! I think to myself as Sakura limps away from me. Suddenly, my eyes widen and I strengthen my shield, whirling around to face my attacker. Mae. The numerous blades of water and sharpened shards of ice are dissipated in my shield.

At this moment, I am entirely grateful for Allen advising me to train my body while I spent these past six months training my Alices. I leap forward at Mae and my barrier envelops her, nullifying her Alice before she can even try to use it. I pin my friends arms and legs and kneel above her with my fore arm on her throat. She takes the defeat with a smile, and as Yuki calls the match, I stand and pull Mae to her feet. We grin at each other then high five, congratulating each other on a good match.

From the side of the field Allen walks up to me and carefully hands me my small, half face, white fox mask. It doesn't cover my mouth or chin, but covers the rest of my face. It spreads out in wing like fashion and has shimmery golden lines around my eyes, about the width of my finger and originating from the bridge of my nose before wrapping around the holes for my eyes as if it were eyeliner, then swirling out to the edge of the mask in delicate golden paint.

The cheeks of the mask have a dusting of pink shimmer, so that the mask seems to be blushing lightly. I still can't believe we found such a beautiful thing in our costume department at school!

I take the mask gratefully, sliding it into place and hiding the string in my hair. The string was painted the exact same color as my hair, so it bends in quite well when I keep my hair down. I smile at my friends then teleport myself to the billboard on the postcard Hotaru sent me. I quickly hide in an alley, thanking whatever god is up there that no one is around on the street to see my sudden appearance.

After I catch my breath and steady myself slightly, I step out from the alley and see the sign. I turn towards what looks to be a forest and decide that Hotaru is in there somewhere. I attempt to go to the class my mother was in, but I'm blocked by some kind of barrier. I teleport instead to right beside the barrier. I hold out a shaking hand and lay it on the barrier. Upon finding it, I activate my nullifying shield and walk through the barrier, letting it close behind me. I then teleport up to the class, where my eyes immediately lock on Hotaru. I grin and hold myself back from jumping her then and there, as I swiftly copy all of the Alices around me and I catch Hotaru's eye and wink before shushing her with a finger to my mouth.

"Hello, students. Nice to meet you, and thanks for the power ups!" I grin excitedly, closing my eyes and nullifying the electric attack from Jinno. I teleport in front of him quickly. "Ah ah ah, Jinno- San. Don't you know it's rude to try to hit a girl- and a child at that? Rude. Well, I'll be seeing you again soon. Bye!" I wave, and right before I teleport away I see a boy in the back row watching me with dull curiosity like Hotaru does, his piercing crimson eyes telling me who he is.

"Ah, Natsume- you have such pretty eyes…" I tell him before disappearing off to my training clearing where my friends await me. Upon arriving, I giggle happily, then collapse onto Mae's arms. Can't wait to see you again, Hotaru. Natsume.

-8{

Meanwhile, at Gakuen Alice:

Natsume sat, eyes wide as he mulled over the strange girl from earlier. She knows me. How? Does she possibly know about- No, she couldn't. It's worthless to even hope. And with that thought, Natsume closed himself off from the world even further. He noticed Imai was watching him and he glared at her.

Imai turned away from him, wondering why her Mikan had been here, how she had been here, and how she knew Hyuuga and Jinno. Neither of them recognized her- or even really seemed to know her at all.

Hotaru smirked smugly, and those around her about fell out of their seats as the ice queen showed emotion for what seemed like the first time. Hotaru solidified her resolve to go home.

-8{

I trained for six more months both physically and with my Alices. I thought I was strong enough to leave, but I quickly found that my friends did not agree. They wouldn't let me leave for another nine months after that. I had to be able to defeat them using only one Alice each time. Once I had become proficient enough to do so, they told me I could go to the academy. I had gotten another postcard from Hotaru telling me she knew I was the one who had come and telling me she'd be home shortly to throttle me. She didn't come back.

"When you get there, please, don't tell them we're here." Yuki beg me and I gasp.

"I would never, Yuki! I swear it. If you don't want to go, I won't let them take you away." I vow. My friends smile at me and I grin, leaving to tell grandfather the news.

-8{

"Grandfather, I'm going after Hotaru." Grandpa looks up at me, shocked.

"What?" He asks me softly.

I smile sadly at him. "I've been studying hard these last few years. I'm twelve now- I'm going after Hotaru! I'm going to go to that school too! Don't worry, I'll keep in touch better than Hotaru has been doing." I smile at my grandfather, not caring at all that we weren't technically related.

"O- Okay, Mikan. But what if something like that happens again? And, before you go, I need to tell you about your moth-" He begins.

"I'll be fine. And about my mother? Gramps, it's okay. I know the story. But you're my beloved grandfather. So I don't care!" I tell grandfather, and he looks confused about how I know the story, but tears fill his eyes and he hugs my tightly.

"Thank you, Mikan. I love you too, now go find Hotaru!" Grandfather tells me, pulling back from our hug and holding me at arms length then kissing my forehead. I grin and nod, kissing Grandfather's cheek before fading away and disappearing the same way Mother did when she fled this home to escape the academy.

"Bye, Gramps! I'll see you again soon, so take good care of yourself until then, okay?" I exclaim, and Grandfather's eyes widen at the familiar action. I grin at his expression, and appear in my bedroom to grab my suitcase and backpack as well as a duffel bag. I had a lot of stuff to bring if I was going to be at the school for six or more years. My smile fades as I appear before the Academy gates.


	2. Chapter 2

My smile fades as I appear before the Academy gates.

-8{

I notice a familiar blonde teacher watching me, and I skip over to him.

"Ne, Narumi- Sensei, how does one go about enrolling in this school?" I ask him excitedly, grinning and awkwardly holding my heavy bags.

"Well child-" He stops, then pulls himself to his feet. He looks away from me momentarily as he does so. In that moment I put a small illusion up- my father standing beside me and my mothers image overlaid mine. "How do you know my— Yuka? Yukihira- Sensei?" I let the illusion fade away and I grin up at the teacher.

"Nope, just me! Mikan Sakura, at your service!" I exclaim dramatically, bowing to the teacher, then nearly toppling over from the wait of my bags "I know you because on my journey I met someone with two Alices- the Alice of Past Viewing, and the Alice of Alice Viewing. She told me my Alice and showed me my parents' past at this school." I explain, making sure to leave out any details about who, where or when I met this person, as well as what Alices I have- or even that I have multiple. Let them think I can only use Nullification. For now, anyway. "I'm not from the AAO like Mom- in fact, I've never met her. She left me so the Academy couldn't ever find me. But now I'm here, running after my best friend. Might as well see why Mother was so eager to save this place! Also," I pause, a grin lighting my face up happily. "My Nii- San is in there some where. I'm sure you've heard of him. Persona is what he goes by now I believe. Apparently when Father was 21 he was trying to deny his feelings for Mother and he ended up getting the lady pregnant. Only, she had a lot of lovers and didn't know which had gotten her pregnant. She was apparently killed by Rei's Alice. He should be about twenty now…" I trail off then begin laughing at Narumi's expression of awed horror.

Narumi opens his mouth to respond but is distracted when part of the wall beside us explodes in a ball of fire. I sigh and rub a hand down my face muttering about the extravagancy of Hyuuga's. "First it was Kaoru, then Aoi, now Natsume? Not to mention Neji and his family in Naruto. Ridiculous. I realize that in face palming, I dropped my duffel bag so I quickly scoop it up and frown at the boy. I notice his mask and squeal, dropping my bags and rushing the boy, jumping atop the fence and into the tree.

"Kuro neko- Chan!" I exclaim, hugging him, much to the boys irritation, especially as he finds he cannot burn me. "Ne, Natsume, Kaoru- San would be disappointed if she knew you were making trouble for Narumi- Sensei." I tell the boy, who turns to me in a rage.

"Don't speak about my mother as if you know her! And get OFF me!" He growls angrily and my face drops as I back off. I was at my limit any way, so I would have had to release him soon any way.

"You're right. I've never met her. But I know her about as well as you do. She was best friends with my mother and because of that, I know her personality quite well. I'm sorry for her passing. She was a wonderful woman." I bow my head in sadness, and feel Natsume's wrath settle somewhat.

"She was." He agrees quietly.

"Good, we agree on something!" I grab his hand eagerly and jump down to Narumi, forcing him to follow me. He glares at me as I land and grab my suitcase and duffel bag. My backpack is still on my back. I grab Narumi with my free hand and nudge him towards the gate before grabbing my suitcase and following him, towing Natsume behind me. I grin back at his blank face, eyes twinkling.

-8{

Soon, the three of us arrive at a room where Narumi leaves us, telling us that he's going to go work out my registration details and get me a uniform.

As soon as he leaves, the surprisingly docile Natsume lunges at me and begins threatening me.

"Tell me who you are or I'll burn your hair, girl!" he growls, one arm on my throat and his other hand holding a chunk of my waist length hair.

My eyes widen in panic and I begin thrashing underneath the stronger boy. "FINE! Burn my hair, just DON'T RAPE ME AGAIN, PLEASE, MISTER!" I shriek, as I slip into a flashback triggered by his calling me girl. Natsume seems thrown off, but also a little concerned. especially when another teacher bursts in the room shouting for Narumi. He takes in the scene and I take Natsume's distraction as a chance to slam my knee up between his legs. HARD. His face scrunches in pain and I push him off me and pinch a pressure point on his neck I learned from the very violent Sakura and her partner in crime- surprisingly enough- Yuki that renders him unconscious. The teacher who came in stares at me in shock as I stand up and get far away from Natsume. "I knew he had problems but I didn't think he'd be a pervert…" I mutter in disgust.

The teacher, recovering from his shock introduces himself as Misaki- the biology teacher. He asks me if I know where Narumi is, and I tell him he's setting up my enrollment.

I know that Narumi doesn't realize that the illusion I used was just that- an illusion. He thinks he was just seeing things.

"So, do you know what your Alice is?" Misaki- Sensei asks and I nod.

"Nullification." Not a lie, just not the whole truth. All will be revealed in time.

Misaki- Sensei's eyes widen slightly. "Do you know who your parents are?" I grin and nod excitedly, then pause. Was it a good idea to tell him? Meh. Too late anyway. I already told him.

Suddenly, Misaki pulls out his phone, apologizes to me and runs out the door. A few minutes later, a young blonde boy crashes through the window.

"Well. That was unexpected." I say. The boy looks up at me and then glances at Natsume. "Oh, you can have him." I step far away from the unconscious boy. "Get your perverted creep of a friend away from me."

The blonde walks over to Natsume, watching me warily and lifts him up, Natsume's arm around his shoulders.

"Ruka!" I hear from beside me as I stumble toward the teachers.

"Narumi- Sensei! Natsume's a perv!" I whine, clutching the teacher's shirt. He looks down at me in confusion as I sniffle and wipe tears from my eyes. "He pinned me down and I thought he was gonna- *hic*" I stop talking as the fear takes me over.

Rape.

It was the spring following my twelfth birthday. There were only a few weeks until I went to the Academy, and I was wandering around our small town trying to find Mae and the other girls. I saw a nice looking man and I asked him if he could help me find my friends.

"Of course I can, child. Why don't we start over here. You haven't looked here yet have you?" I shook my head. I hadn't yet. The man grinned down at me and started walking to where we had decided to start looking. He ducked into a side alley and began calling the girls' names out, and I followed him.

"Yuki! Mae! Sakur-AH!" I yelped as the man suddenly shoved me against a wall and pinned me there. His kind face had suddenly turned leering and terrifying. The man put his hand over my mouth and muffled my voice. When he pulled his hand away, I found myself unable to move or make noise.

"Are you scared little girl?" The man asked, dropping me to the ground. "You should be. I'm gonna fuck you till you're dead, little girl. But it won't be fast. No, you're gonna suffer. Why? Because I want you to." The man smiled pleasantly at me and I shuddered. His hand passed over my face and I couldn't breathe. I passed out and woke up in a dark room. It smelled like urine and something else I couldn't identify. The man was standing a few feet in front of me and hadn't noticed I was awake yet. I took in the table of strange tools before him and shivered. I slammed my eyes shut before the man could see that I was awake.

"This'll wake you up for sure, girly." He passed me and I realized I was naked and tied to a chair with my knees drawn up to my chest and tied there. Suddenly, I felt something strange prodding at an area between my legs. Then the strange thing was shoved into me and I screamed out in pain. Only I didn't- I still couldn't move or make sound. The man laughed and I opened my eyes to glare at him and saw him thrusting a rubbery object between my legs. The thing was covered in blood that dripped onto the man's wrist. "Looks like we've got ourselves a virgin, boys!" It was then that I noticed three more men around us.

The men laughed then hung me by my waist, under arms, and knees from the ceiling about two feet off the ground. One of them grabbed another strange object and a tube of something- he called the object a dildo and I read the tube that said Lubricant on it. He squirted some stuff from the tube and rubbed a little on my butt and the rest on the dildo before shoving it up my butt. I let out another silent howl as the third man pulled his pants off and walked up to me. What is he going to do?! I thought.

I got my answer soon enough as he turned my head to the side and I grunted at the feeling of the two dildos within me rubbing together. He pulled my mouth open and leered at me as he thrust his hips straight into my mouth, forcing me to take his dick- as I was told it was called- into my mouth. Then the man unstrung me from the ceiling and turned so that as he thrust into my mouth he could suck on one of my barely existent breasts.

The final man grabbed my hand and placed it on his dick, wrapping my fingers around it and thrusting into my hand and sucking my other breast. I couldn't move, but I could feel. And this? It felt wonderful. And that terrified me. I felt disgusting, I felt wonderful. Tears began to stream from my eyes and the men laughed.

-8{

I don't know how long it's been. A week? A year? All that exists in my world are these four men and sex. Sex. Sex. More and more of this beautiful, horrible, lovely, and terrifying experience. I love these men. I hate them.

"You know girl, no one has ever lasted this long against my Alice." He praised me! He praised me- wait. His Alice? Then… can I… I activate my nullification barrier and pull myself up. At this moment I heard my friends calling for me outside and I called back, my voice hoarse from disuse.

My friends heard me though and quickly found me. They beat the men senseless and wrapped me in their clothes before carrying me home.

"I- I didn't know it was an Alice. I was so scared! I- I didn't even wonder why it was happening. I just knew it was. I couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't scream! I hated it!" I shrieked at Mae and the other girls.

The men never actually put themselves in my pussy, as they called it, or my ass. They said the best was for last, whatever that means. I was grateful though. I didn't want their filthiness in me. When they used their fingers, I hated it. They had seemed to realize this and stopped for whatever reason.

I soon found out I'd been gone a week.

I was so scared.

So scared.

So…

I came back to the present to find Narumi crouched in front of me, Ruka watching my in concern he tried to hide, and Natsume just barely awake. I scramble away from Narumi and cower in the corner. He sighs and leaves my school uniform beside me as he and Misaki go to interrogate Natsume.

-8{

With Natsume-

"What did you do to her?" Narumi hisses quietly at Natsume.

"Nothing, you creepy teacher! But…" Natsume trails off, then looks in the direction Mikan left to go put on her new uniform. "I- I think… I think she may have been raped at some point in her life."

Narumi gasps and his eyes harden. "Are you sure?" Natsume shakes his head.

-8{

"He's right." I state, exiting the changing room in my new uniform. "I was. It was only a few weeks ago actually. The men… they… they used Alices. It took me a week, but I was able to nullify the effects of it and escape alive and unharmed… for the most part." I had sealed up my feelings on the subject to tell the men about my encounter, but some of them still slipped out. Narumi looks at me with kind eyes and reaches for my shoulder but I flinch away violently. Narumi looks saddened, and I whisper an apology to him, and he smiles at me and I grin.

"Well, let's meet your class representatives!" Narumi exclaims, and Natsume and Ruka take the opportunity to escape.

The door opens, and a boy with blonde hair, glasses and brown eyes steps in, followed by a black haired, amethyst eyed beauty.

"Hotaru…" I breathe out, and she stares at me a moment. I grin at her and glance up at Narumi. "Can you tell them the story? I may need help in this school if anyone gets too…" I shudder violently and take an involuntary step back. "Close…" Narumi nods, and I grin then stroll off to grab my bags. When I get back, the young boy looks suitable horrified and Hotaru has rage stirring in the depths of her eyes. She walks over to me and pulls me into a hug.

"Mikan, you're safe now." She whispers to me and I break down in tears.

I wrap my arms around her waist. "Hotaru! It was so scary! He pinned me and I couldn't move well and I thought it was happening again! I kneed him in the nuts and knocked him out but I didn't mean to I was just so scared!"

"I've told you what happens when you cry, right?" I sniff and nod into Hotaru's shoulder. "Well, for this kind of thing you can cry as much as you need to." Hotaru murmurs to me and I pull away to give her a watery smile.

"Thanks, but I'm good for now." I wipe my eyes and nose then turn to the boy who introduces himself to me as Yuu Tobita- or Iinchou. I elect to call him Iinchou. I can see a mix of horror, sadness, and anger in his eyes as he thinks about what those men did to me using their Alices.

We go to class and my friends, old and new, flank me. Hotaru, knowing her, had probably wanted to tell me not to speak to her while we are here, but had changed her mind when she heard what had happened when she left. That made me happy, but also very sad. When we step into class I am awed by the blatant use of Alices- people running on walls, writing on air, floating around, and other strange things. I immediately throw up my barrier, leaving only a portion of my brain susceptible to mind reading- the part where I can control what the mind reader hears.

I'm told where to sit and I immediately realize who I'm next to. I shift as far away from the boys as possible, and I know my fear is obvious in my eyes.

"Hey pervert, you escaped." I state.

The manga falls off Natsume's face and he looks at me, eyes widening a fraction of an inch. He shifts only very lightly closer to me and I flinch back violently, eyes widening in fear as I see Natsume replaced with the man who kidnapped me, a leering grin on his face. I scramble out of my seat and press my back to the wall, holding a hand over my mouth to keep me from screaming. Natsume's eyes widen and he moves away from where I sit. Even the ass hole feels bad for the rape victim. I hear a gasp and turn my eyes to who I assume is the mind reader in the class. I replay the most PG of my memories from being raped as I slowly go back toward Natsume and sit on the edge of the seat as far away from him as I can.

"Girl, I don't-"

"Are you scared little girl? You should be. I'm gonna fuck you till you're dead, little girl. But it won't be fast. No, you're gonna suffer. Why? Because I want you to." The man smiled pleasantly at me. His hand passed over my face and I couldn't breathe.

I gasp and flee back again.

I vaguely hear children in the back ground making fun of my fear of Natsume and trying to make it worse by using their Alices on me. I am also vaguely aware of the horrified stare of one telepathic boy. It's one thing to hear about something and know it happened, and something entirely different to experience it with the person. Hotaru and Iinchou rush to my side and I'm suddenly very aware of a boy with a buzz cut rushing me, determined to force me to tell him why his Alice doesn't work on me. The boy jumps on me, and Hotaru hits at him with her horse hoof glove, but stops as she notices he'll collapse on me and make my fear escalate further. I notice Natsume standing to pull the boy off me- wow, he cares that much?- but he isn't fast enough.

"Please, not again, I can't! DON'T! STOP, PLEASE!" I shriek, curling in on myself as all of my memories from that time run through my head. I unleash a blast of wind from around me and curl into Hotaru as she kneels to cradle my fragile state of mind. The mind reader boy approaches us, head bowed and face pale.

"I am so, so sorry, Sakura- san." I smile shakily at him. Having seen my memories, I know I can trust this boy. No one who's witnessed such atrocities can ever bully someone like that again.

"Mikan." I whisper. "Call me Mikan." Hotaru turns her head to me sharply, questioning me silently and I nod.

The boy nods, understanding my reasoning and agreeing completely. You'd have to be heartless to see someone go through that and not feel horrible.

Suddenly, the classroom door slams open and Jinno- Sensei walks in.

"What is going on here?" He questions, taking in the students crowded around me, my huddled form and frightened face, and the small circle of people who are protecting me.

A girl with a perm speaks up. "The new girl attacked us!" She exclaims.

Suddenly, Natsume and Ruka move to stand by my side, glaring at the girl. The mind reader walks to my side as well, joined by Iinchou. Hotaru pulls me to my feet and coldly states out her opinion. "Only because you were bringing up bad memories and attacking her."

Permy laughs and my group of friends huddle around me. "Of what, a nightmare?" She asks.

I choose this moment to speak up. "When I was a babe, this school killed my father and used my mother. She had to leave me to keep me alive. Otherwise the academy would have killed me. With the help of a friend's Alice I watched my father be murdered by my brother, who was being manipulated by the school. Then, not two months ago, I was kidnapped and raped for a week straight by four fully grown, Alice wielding men. So no, not nightmares, but the stuff of them." Finished speaking, I wobble over to my seat and slide in, collapsing my head onto my desk.

The class looks at me for a moment, stunned, then Hotaru pats me on the head on the way to her seat, Iinchou puts a hand on my slumped shoulder for a moment, the mind reader boy pulls me into a hug that, after a moment of intense fear, I relax into. "My name's Koko by the way. Stop calling me mind reader boy. It's weird." Koko pulls back with a small, hesitant smile on his face and I grin widely before laughing loudly.

"Sorry, but I was a little too busy at the time to ask for a name." I giggle. Incredulous looks are sent my way. I can just hear them thinking, She's been through all that and she can still smile and laugh? Wow.

"That's exactly what they're thinking!" Koko laughs. "Are we sure you aren't the mind reader here?"

I grin. Suddenly, I notice a suitably shamed Permy slinking back to her seat, and two nice looking girls lingering near my desk. I look up at them, effectively dismissing Koko, who understands and walks away.

"Hi, Mikan. I'm Anna, and this is my best friend Nonoko." The girl with the pink hair gestures to her blue haired companion and I feel Natsume sliding into the seat beside me, Ruka following. They both try to keep a healthy distance from me, but they look a little uncomfortable, so I motion them closer. They stubbornly refuse and I roll my eyes, sighing.

"Boys." I sigh, reaching for Natsume's wrist then freezing.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a virgin, boys!"

I shake it off and continue reaching for Natsume's wrist, but he noticed the pause and is trying to keep his wrist away from me so I just grab his upper arm and haul him closer to me. We are now about as far apart as we originally were, but I am no longer shaking as I sit beside him. He notices this, and so realizes it wasn't his fault I freaked out. Ruka glances at us and a small smile graces his face before we all turn back to Jinno- who had been oddly quiet while we were figuring out our… problems.

"Sumire, you and your friends go to the office. I'll speak to you later." The man looks at me sadly, but I grin at him, shaking my head minutely. 'I'm fine.' I convey. The math teacher nods, and begins teaching class. As he does, I do the work easily, and flinch only occasionally as the other boys turn to look at me. Suddenly, hesitant fingers wind with my own, and Natsume gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. I turn to him gratefully, relaxing fractionally.

By the end of the day, however, I am incredibly tense from stress, and I immediately head to see Narumi for my star rating. I find him and Jinno going over my work for the day, looking more and more astonished as they see my accuracy and the results of years of advanced study.

I clear my throat. Turning to me, they smile slightly. "Well, well, Mikan. Someone was well prepared for our curriculum." I smile and nod.

"My... star rating?" I ask, Hotaru having explained it to me before sending me over to inquire about it.

Narumi's gaze turns sad. "Due to your... situation, along with your Alice and grades, you are a special star. You will be put into the Special Class and they will be informed you only use nullification. The ESP cannot find out about your other Alice." I nod determinedly.

Jinno looks at me. "Natsume will take you to your room." A warm hand wraps around my wrist, and I know it to belong to Natsume by my Detection Alice.

I turn, and follow him to my new room.


End file.
